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The EU and Minimum Income Protection: Clarifying the Policy Conundrum

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Minimum Income Protection in Flux

Part of the book series: Reconciling Work and Welfare in Europe ((RECOWE))

Abstract

Should the EU be involved in the governance of minimum income protection, and if it should, in which role precisely? This is the dual question that lies at the heart of this chapter. Saying that the question is difficult would be an understatement. We are staunch defenders of the notion that any decent society should have in place an efficient minimum income guarantee. We also believe that the EU needs to incorporate a credible social dimension into its actions. However, designing a specific role for the EU in minimum income protection entails a range of complicated problems that cannot be ignored. Sometimes one has to be brave enough to put the ideas one cherishes to the test of argument and counterargument, and hope that they will emerge all the stronger. That is what we have set out to do in this chapter.

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Authors
  1. Frank Vandenbroucke
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  2. Bea Cantillon
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  3. Natascha Van Mechelen
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  4. Tim Goedemé
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  5. Anne Van Lancker
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Antwerp, Belgium

    Ive Marx (Associate Professor, Research Fellow) (Associate Professor, Research Fellow)

  2. Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, Antwerp University, Belgium

    Ive Marx (Associate Professor, Research Fellow) (Associate Professor, Research Fellow)

  3. IZA, Bonn, Germany

    Ive Marx (Associate Professor, Research Fellow) (Associate Professor, Research Fellow)

  4. Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University, Sweden

    Kenneth Nelson (Senior Research Fellow and Associate Professor of Sociology) (Senior Research Fellow and Associate Professor of Sociology)

Copyright information

© 2013 Frank Vandenbroucke, Bea Cantillon, Natascha Van Mechelen, Tim Goedemé and Anne Van Lancker

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Vandenbroucke, F., Cantillon, B., Van Mechelen, N., Goedemé, T., Van Lancker, A. (2013). The EU and Minimum Income Protection: Clarifying the Policy Conundrum. In: Marx, I., Nelson, K. (eds) Minimum Income Protection in Flux. Reconciling Work and Welfare in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137291844_11

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